1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a security-ensuring apparatus for detecting an emergency or abnormality, such as fire, unauthorized entry, gas leakage, equipment failure, etc., occurring in a predetermined protected area and for sending an emergency or abnormality signal to a central monitoring station located distant from the predetermined protected area and to other associated equipment when such emergency or abnormality occurs. More particularly, the present invention relates to a security-ensuring apparatus which has multi-operation modes, including a security-ensuring operation mode and a management operation mode. In the management operation mode, the security-ensuring apparatus can automatically operate while being inspected by authorized engineers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional security-ensuring apparatus employed in an alarm system for protecting a predetermined area, such as the user's residence or office, usually has only two separate operation modes, i.e., a manned security-ensuring operation mode and an unmanned security-ensuring operation mode, which modes are switched from one to the other by the user of the apparatus or by authorized persons, such as dispatched engineers and patrol engineers. The manned security-ensuring operation mode is set when it is certain that there is a person or persons in the predetermined protected area capable of handling an emergency or abnormality. On the other hand, the unmanned security-ensuring operation mode of the security-ensuring apparatus is usually set when there is no one in the predetermined protected area who can handle an emergency or abnormality.
In the conventional security-ensuring apparatus, when the user or an engineer wishes to examine the apparatus, as part of the maintenance thereof, it is necessary, prior to the start of examination, to inform the central monitoring station by telephone the apparatus is going to be examined. When examination of the apparatus is completed, it is also necessary to inform the central monitoring station thereof.
During examination of the apparatus, diverse kinds of tests are carried out by the engineers, and, thus, test emergency information signals are automatically sent to the central monitoring station. Also, the apparatus per se is set to the above-mentioned manned security operation mode. Therefore, while the apparatus is being examined, if an actual emergency or abnormality occurs, an actual emergency information signal is sent to the central monitoring station without being discriminated from the above-mentioned test emergency information signals. Accordingly, the monitor of the central monitoring station determines the actual emergency information signal to be one of the test emergency information signals since the monitor cannot descriminate between the test emergency information signals and actual emergency information signals. Consequently, the monitor of the central monitoring station is unable to handle an actual emergency or abnormality occurring in the predetermined protected area. This is a serious drawback.
Further, the above-mentioned method of informing the central monitoring station by telephone of the start and completion of examination of the apparatus involves a drawback. That is, if the user or the engineer forgets to telephone the central monitoring station prior to the start of examination of the apparatus, all test emergency information signals sent from the security-ensuring apparatus to the central monitoring station are determined to be actual emergency information signals by the monitor of the central monitoring station. As a result, the central monitoring station dispatches an engineer or engineers to the predetermined protected area even though an actual emergency or an actual abnormality has not occurred in the area. This results in a tremendous increase in the cost of running the security-ensuring apparatus and its associated machines.
On the other hand, if the user or the engineer forgets to telephone the central monitoring station after the completion of examination of the security-ensuring apparatus, the monitor of the central monitoring station cannot discriminate whether the emergency information signals that he receives are actual emergency information signals or test emergency information signals. As a result, if the monitor mistakes an actual emergency information signal for a test emergency information signal, it is impossible to control the actual emergency or abnormality that has occurred in the predetermined protected area. This is a further drawback of the conventional apparatus.
In addition, it is quite usual for each emergency information signal issued from a given conventional security-ensuring apparatus to be recorded on a suitable recorder and be statistically processed later so that the statistical data of the operation of the given conventional security-ensuring apparatus can be evaluated. That is, the rate of incorrect operation to correct operation of the given conventional security-ensuring apparatus can be calculated. However, if many test emergency information signals are included in the recorded signals, the statistical data is worthless.
In the conventional security-ensuring apparatus, when the dispatched engineer or engineers inspect an emergency or abnormality that has occurred in the predetermined protected area and when the patrol engineers periodically inspect the apparatus, the apparatus is set to the manned security-ensuring operation mode. After the above-mentioned respective inspections, the conventional security-ensuring apparatus is again set to the manned security-ensuring operation mode or the unmanned security-ensuring operation mode, depending on the current condition of the protected area. If the apparatus per se is set to the manned security-ensuring operation mode, the dispatched engineer or engineers or the patrol engineers can easily enter the predetermined protected area without being monitored by the monitor of the central monitoring station. Therefore, it is impossible to prevent dispatched engineers or patrol engineers having an evil intent from entering the protected area. This is still another of the drawbacks of the conventional security-ensuring apparatus.